12 Ways Classroom Teachers Can Support ELLs

Teacher with student

This article provides classroom teachers with ideas for supporting their ELLs' language development. This article is part of our Strategies for ELL Success guide.

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If you are a classroom or content-area educator trying to figure out how to teach English language learners (ELLs), you are not alone! You are off to a good start by looking for ways to support your students!

There are many things you can do that will make a big difference to ELLs, and they often prove helpful for other students in the class as well.

Here are some ideas to help you begin. Look for a few ideas you can try and one or two topics where you would like to learn more information.

Note: This article also includes some research-based recommendations offered by Dr. Diane August in her 2018 American Educator article, Educating English Language Learners: A Review of the Latest Research.

Getting Started

1. Get to know your students.

ELLs are a tremendously diverse student group. In order to serve your students effectively, it will be helpful to:

In addition, it's helpful to know more about their home language, literacy skills in that language, prior schooling, and current levels of English proficiency (keeping in mind that students' levels may have changed during the pandemic since the last time they were assessed).

You don't have to do this all at once and it's best not to overwhelm students or families with a lot of questions at the beginning, but taking some small steps early on can make a big difference throughout the year. Learn more from the following:

Videos: Why building relationships with ELLs matters

2. Be mindful of your communication.

In order to communicate effectively with your students:

Video: Why positive body language matters when working with ELLs

3. Create a language-rich environment.

ELLs will benefit from increased exposure to print and language. A print-rich environment will include access to books and reference materials, labels (in students' languages and English) and posters, and student work on bulletin boards. Word walls are also a great support for ELLs, and may be organized around a number of concepts, including:

Video: Using sentence frames with ELLs

4. Learn how to plan lessons that incorporate best practices for ELLs.

Take a look at our article on lesson planning for ELLs for ideas on how to:

Video: Teaching ELLs the names of all 50 states

Language and Literacy Instruction

5. Learn some basic information about how students acquire a new language.

A good place to start is a basic overview of the process and stages of language acquisition. It's also important to learn about the four key domains, or skill areas, of language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students need instruction and practice all four of these domains.

Drs. Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria Dove include "interaction" in that list for the helpful acronym SWIRL:

Image credit: Input and output in language development. WelchEducation.com. Used with permission.

Keep in mind the following:

Related resources

6. Teach academic oral language skills.

Oral language skills are an essential part of a student's language and literacy development. Students will need guided practice and modeling to develop the academic language needed for classroom discussions and presentations. You can see more ideas for how to do so in the resources below:

7. Expand ELLs' access to grade-level literacy instruction.

In order for ELLs to access grade-level content, they may need additional literacy support and instruction. Here are a few initial steps to take; much more information is available in the links below.

To see some related strategies in action, take a look at our Classroom Video library. Many of these videos and classroom materials were developed as part of our Common Core and ELLs project developed with Dr. August.

Related resources

8. Try only one new thing at a time.

Teaching multiple new things at the same time often doesn't work! When introducing new material, remember the following:

Video: Try one new thing at a time

Students' Home Languages as a Resource

9. Draw upon students' home languages as a resource.

Students' home languages are a valuable resource. Even if you don't speak those languages and are not working in a bilingual setting, there are way to tap into them to support instruction.

For example, Dr. August shares a number of research-based strategies that draw upon the home language such as the following:

Related resources

Learn more about what using students' language can look like in this related series from Larry Ferlazzo on Education Week, this resource guide on translanguaging, and these recommendations from Tan Huynh.

Learning about students' home languages

Learning more about students' languages can help educators understand how that student learns English, patterns, or aspects that might be present such as phonetic sounds, pronunciation, grammar, word order, or sentence structure. For example, in Spanish, the adjective often follows the noun, so a student may write, "We are a family happy." In Somali, there is one sound for b and p — it is mixed. Somali students need to be taught this sound explicitly as two distinct sounds. Otherwise, they may ask for a can of "pop" and it sounds like "bob."

Home language may also influence students' vocabulary as they translate words or phrases from one language to another. Perhaps a vocabulary word has multiple meanings, a different meaning in each language, or the concept doesn't exist in one of the languages. In addition, educators and staff who work regularly with ELLs, as well as bilingual families, may be a valuable source of information about their languages and be able to share their language through a few words, songs, or rhymes.

Recommended Resource: One useful tool is a book written by Jeffra JoAnn Flaitz about immigrant/refugee students. This title includes profiles of the most common countries of origin for ELLs in the U.S. with information about culture, language, education, teaching styles, and classroom behavior. A sample chapter about El Salvador is available online.

Monitoring Student Progress

10. Use informal assessment on a regular basis.

It's important to use informal tools to monitor student progress in addition to more formal measures. That might mean something like quick comprehension checks during a lesson or exit tickets. You may also wish to use tools such as graphic organizers. More ideas are available in the resources below.

Coming up with a correction/feedback policy

While it is difficult to know when to correct students, constructive and effective feedback is essential to student progress. Nevertheless, it is important to balance between encouragement and error correction. One way to do this is to focus on one or two concepts at a time when listening to or reading student work. Let students know what you will be focusing on so that they in turn can focus on those particular concepts in the assignment.

Another strategy is to circle errors in writing assignments, and have students try to figure out what the mistakes were. Most of the time students are able to correct their own writing errors once they focus on the circled area. If they are still stuck, try giving them the answer and asking them to explain why it is correct. If they don't know the answer, ask them to consult with a classmate. If no one else knows the answer, review the structure as a group.

Related resources

Video: Assessment for ELLs

11. If a student is struggling, proceed with care.

If a student is struggling, it's important to proceed carefully and in collaboration with colleagues. Discuss your concerns with an ESL teacher to identify some targeted areas of instruction and ideas for progress monitoring. (Dr. August shares some ideas towards the end of the her research review for this kind of monitoring.) In addition, talk with the student's family to determine whether there is any important information you should know about factors that might impact the student's learning.

Keep in mind the following:

Related resources

Video: Having enough data to look at progress over time

Tips for Collaboration

12. Reach out to your ELL colleagues for ideas.

Don't hesitate to reach out to ELL colleagues in your building or district (they may have a wide range of titles). They are experts in supporting ELL instruction. Even if schools have not made formal collaboration time a priority, you can start with small steps. A concrete question or example is often a very good place to start collaboration.

If you find the collaboration helpful, share your successes with colleagues and administrators — you may be able to advocate for more collaboration time in the future! While it may be difficult to find time to meet on a regular basis, increased collaboration among all of the educators working with ELLs will improve their chances for success.

Video: Collaborating to support an ELL with special needs

Closing Thoughts

There is a lot of information here, but remember that it's ok to start with small steps. And when something doesn't work, don't hesitate to go back to the drawing board! Make some adjustments and try again, and if it still doesn't work, move on to a new strategy. You will soon find what works for your students and will come to appreciate the privilege to be a part of their journey.

Video: When new strategies don't work

Discussion Questions

Recommended Resources

References

Fillmore, Lily Wong and Snow, Catherine. Digest summary of "What Teachers Need to Know About Language." November 2000. Retrieved 9/1/09. http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0006fillmore.html

Jules, Jacqueline. "10 Ways to Support ELLs in the School Library." Colorín Colorado, 2009.

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